OCR GCSE Media Studies B322 TV Comedy

1. LO:
•To understand how to classify and categorise an
audience

2. • An individual or collective group of people who read
or consume any media text

3. Without audiences there would be no media.
Media organisations produce media texts to make
profit – no audience = no profit.
The mass media is becoming more competitive
than ever to attract more and more audiences in
different ways and stay profitable.

4.  Mass audience – Media and communication
that targets a very large group of people
(women, men, children, adults etc). Those
who consume mainstream or popular texts
such as soaps or sitcoms.
 Examples of media with mass audience…

5.  Niche audience – much smaller but very influential.
A niche audience is a small, select group of people
with a very unique interest.
 Examples of niche publications…

6.  Mass or Niche?

7.  Old media (TV, Print, Radio) which used to have high
audience numbers must now work harder to maintain
audience numbers.
 Digital technology has also led to an increasing
uncertainty over how we define an audience, with the
general agreement that a large group of people
reading the same thing at the same time is outdated
and that audiences are now ‘fragmented’.

8.  The division of audiences
into smaller groups due to
the variety of media outlets.
 EXAMPLE: TV and Online
streaming/downloads – you
can now view programmes
and films on demand when
you want and where you
want. People do not have to
sit in front of their TV and
wait for programmes to
come on.

9.  Before 1982, three tv stations in the UK, run by two institutions. BBC1,
BBC2, and ITV. Now there are tens of thousands.
 Newspapers and magazines had no competition except themselves, now
we can go online and read newspaper websites for free (unless there is a
paywall)
 Even where people are consuming media in the same numbers, they are
consuming it on different platforms (eg iPlayer / Netflix / etc.) This splits
advertising revenue.
 Alternative media forms and platforms are appearing each year that did
not exist many years ago.
 Video Games Netflix YouTube Online
 Social Media Twitch Spotify Streaming

10.  There are two main ways of categorising the
audience for a text.
 Demographics
 Socio-economics

11. The first things we consider:
gender,
age,
race,
education level.
The downside of this approach - and the main reason that it
has become less widely used today - is that it simplifies the
individual and does not take into account a persons beliefs,
motivations and values.

12.  One of the aspects
that Demographers
use is the socio-
economic scale
which takes into
account a person's
job both in terms of
financial position
and social standing.
Rank these as 1- 6 in
order of highest paid
Skilled Manual People, such as
Carpenter, Plumber or skilled machine
operator
Middle management and
Administration, such as a bank manger,
teacher or Armed forces
Casual workers, Unemployed,
Pensioners and Students.
Professionals, higher managerial
people, such as a Judge, Surgeon,
Doctor or MP
Semi-skilled or unskilled people, such
as cleaner or building labourer
Junior management or supervisory
people, such as shop manager or
Personal Assistant

13. Jobs in this
Category
Professionals, higher managerial people,
such as a Judge, Surgeon, Doctor or MP
Middle management and Administration,
such as a bank manger, teacher or Armed
forces
Junior management or supervisory people.,
such as shop manager or Personal Assistant
Skilled Manual People, such as Carpenter,
Plumber or skilled machine operator
Semi-skilled or unskilled people, such as
cleaner or building labourer
Casual workers, Unemployed, Pensioners
and Students.

14. A- Higher managerial, administrative, professional e.g. Chief executive, senior
civil servant, surgeon.
B - Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional e.g. bank manager,
teacher.
C1- Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank
clerk, sales person.
C2 - Skilled manual workers e.g. electrician, carpenter.
D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line worker,
refuse collector, messenger.
E - Casual labourers, pensioners, students, unemployed e.g. pensioners
without private pensions and anyone living on basic benefits.

15.  What issues might there be with categorising
all males aged 24-28 who work in middle
management?
 Or consider all teenage girls at school aged
13-17?

16. Young and Rubicam are an advertising agency
which decided that they could target audiences
through their beliefs rather than the more
traditional ways of segmenting an audience.
The benefit of this system is that it centres around
motivation and so can be used to target audiences
across different areas of society. The system is
known as the 4 C's - Cross Cultural Consumer
Categories. This is generally an advertising
categorising.

17. THE EXPLORER
These people look for challenge and discovery.
They always want to be the people to try out new experiences
and ideas
They look to be different from other people
Core motivation = discovery
THE SUCCEEDER
They have self confidence
Very organised
They have a strong goal orientation as they want to be successful
Often have an aggressive attitude to life
Core motivation = control
THE ASPIRER
Materialistic
They focus more on people’s opinions and perceptions of
them rather than their own values
They respond to other people’s ideas of superficial
(appearance, personality, fashion etc)
They think that appearance is more important than
personality
Core motivation = status
THE MAINSTREAMER
A daily routine is fundamental for them
They are the mainstream of society
They are the largest of the 7 groups
They tend to copy other people and like what they like
Core motivation = security

18. THE RESIGNED
Predominantly older people with unchanging values
Enjoy traditional roles and lives
They prefer to known rather than the new
Core motivation = to survive
THE STRUGGLER
They “live for the day”
Other groups often see them as victims and losers
They rely on luck rather than judgement to get anywhere
with their lives
Often are heavy consumers of alcohol and junk food
Core motivation = escape
THE REFORMER
They value their own judgement; they do what they want to
do
Most anti-materialistic group
Considered as intellects
They have a lot of tolerance
Core motivation = enlightenment

19.  1) Which category (or categories) of audience
do the following media target?
 2) How and why?

20. Maslow studied how people accumulated wealth and
studied what people in society chose to spend their
money on. He developed a system of needs, each one a
step up from the last, that people in society seek to meet
- even through the things that they buy.
The idea is that an individual will always
seek to satisfy their core needs first -
the ones at the bottom of the pyramid -
and then would work towards Self-
actualisation and beyond.
The theory is manipulated by
advertising by making a
product seem to fulfil one of
these needs when it is
advertised therefore making
the audience desire it in
order to satisfy that need.

21.  Think of a key term you have learnt today –
be prepared to explain it to the rest of the
class!